The present invention relates generally to devices which are utilized to supply yarn to tufting machines, and more specifically to a device and a method of using a plurality of mini-beams to supply a tufting machine with yarn.
The traditional method of supplying a tufting machine with yarn has been to utilize a creel such as the creel disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,643. Creels are generally frames which support a plurality of stationary yarn cones. A bolt of yarn, or yarn cone, is placed on a cone holder. An end of the yarn may then be directed through a guide and then to a yarn tube. From the tube, the yarn is typically directed to a header located at the top of the creel most adjacent to a textile machine being served. Yarn strands then exit the header and proceed to a particular needle for tufting through a fabric to create a pile product, such as a carpet. When a particular bolt of yarn is almost exhausted, another bolt of yarn may be placed on the cone holder in the creel and the ends of the yarn spliced together. The yarn cones utilized are typically provided by yarn companies in predetermined amounts of yarn.
A disadvantage of the use of yarn creels is that for a broad beam tufting machine, which may often have as many as 1,000 needles or more, in each of two rows, a separate yarn cone is necessary for each needle. The space required to accommodate 2,000 yarn cones is substantial which has led to many attempts to better utilize space, including placing yam creels on the second floor and feeding yarns down to a ground floor tufting machine.
One method developed to conserve space by eliminating the use of yam creels is the use of a warper and beam. In this system, one yam creel is used to hold all the yams that would be fed to approximately 100 to 150 needles. A large roll or xe2x80x9cbeamxe2x80x9d is mounted in a drive known as a warper and is wound with a predetermined amount of yarn from each of the yam cones in the creel, so over one hundred separate ends of yarn are on the beam. The beam may then be placed adjacent to a tufting machine and the yams from the beam threaded to needles across the tufting machine. In this fashion approximately six beams take the place of a much larger yam creel assembly. Unfortunately, the use of a beam of this type is limited because all of the yams must feed at the same rate. As a result, these regular size beams are not generally suitable for use with tufting machines utilizing pattern attachments.
B and J Machinery Co., Inc., of Dalton, Ga., has previously marketed a mini-beam rack with yam tubes, illustrated in FIG. 3, which employed the use of mini-beams. Mini-beams could be wound on a warper and placed in the specially designed beam rack. The beam rack of this design utilized a plurality of tubes disposed to receive yarn from a given mini-beam. The tubes directed the yarn from the mini-beams to a header for delivery to a specific tufting machine.
The use of a plurality of mini-beams allowed each mini-beam to be wound on a warper with only about a dozen yarns. The yarns from one mini-beam could be directed to a single set of yarn feed rolls on a scroll-type pattern attachment, typified by that in U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,815. In this fashion between about 60 and 144 mini-beams could supply yarns to a pattern attachment as each mini-beam would more independently depend upon the yarn requirements for its corresponding pattern attachment yam feeder rolls.
The prior art rack design was similar to a creel in that it incorporated tubes which directed yarn to a header and then on to a tufting machine. This design was loaded with mini-beams from within the rack. On any given plane of mini-beams, the yams were directed towards the tufting machine from one set of mini-beams and away from the tufting machine by the other set of mini-beams. The tubes then directed the yarns towards a header for use by the tufting machine. By having multiple sets of mini-beams directing a plurality of yams away from the tufting machine, a relatively large quantity of tubing was required to redirect yam back towards the tufting machine. Additionally, the prior art beam rack design took up a considerable amount of space, similar to a creel.
When yarn tubes are present, an operator must direct a yarn through the tubing, usually from the header to the point nearest the yarn supply. This process may be accomplished utilizing compressed air to blow a guide yarn down each yarn tube. Once the yarn is blown through the tube, it connected to the yarn supply and yarns from the yarn supply can be pulled back through the tubing and the header. The yarn from the yam supply is then connected to the needle in the tufting machine. The process must then be repeated for every tube connected to the header. This process would be greatly simplified by removing, or reducing, the number of tubes. Accordingly, a need exists for a beam rack which does not require the use of yarn tubes.
The mini-beams of the prior art design have also been improved upon by the mini-beam illustrated in FIG. 2. The prior art mini-beams had a similar overall appearance, however, the prior art mini-beams rested in the rack of FIG. 3 on smaller diameter extension members instead of on a larger diameter bushing. Accordingly, when a tufting machine would slow down there was very little friction between the mini-beam and the beam rack. There was a tendency for the inertia of the mini-beam, especially when heavily loaded with yarn, to maintain mini-beam""s rotational speed when the tufting machine slowed. This resulted in yarn unwinding off the mini-beam without being taken up by the tufting machine. This yarn could sag external to the tubes and become tangled. Accordingly, a need exists to reduce the risk of possible entanglement of yarn.
Furthermore, each prior art beam rack was designed to be utilized with a particular tufting machine pattern attachment. The tubes provided a specific yarn to a specific header location to feed a particular yam feed module of the yarn feed pattern attachment of the tufting machine. If a different pattern attachment were desired to be used, another beam rack having the correct tube and header configuration would be necessary. This made each prior art mini-beam rack useful only with pattern attachments of a single manufacturer and mini-beam racks could not be freely interchanged between machines.
Accordingly, a need exists to provide a beam rack which may supply a textile machine with a plurality of yarns from mini-beams wherein the beam rack is flexibly adaptable for a variety of textile machines and/or patterns.
Numerous alternations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
The beam rack of the preferred embodiment utilizes a plurality of mini-beams. The mini-beams are preferably located in substantially planar layer arrangements wherein all the yam ends are fed in a forward direction to director which guides or orients the yarn toward a header. The mini-beams are stacked both horizontally and vertically in the beam rack. The beam rack preferably includes a bearing arm for supporting a plurality of mini-beams along bushings of the mini-beams.
Each mini-beam is loaded with a warper wherein a plurality of yarn ends are usually loaded on a single mini-beam. The number of yarn ends can vary anywhere from a single yarn to sixteen or more yarns per mini-beam depending on the pattern to be tufted on a particular tufting machine. In the usual case, there is at least one yarn end for each repeat of the pattern, and a typical broad loom tufting machine may have as many as sixteen pattern repeats. The yarn ends will usually proceed from the mini-beams to a pattern attachment feeding into a tube bank and then to the needles of the tufting machine.